Step 1: Background
Twenty percent complete, and trucking on. Our fifth Background roll is 4 and 8, giving us Adventurer (nope!), Tragic, and Criminal. Let’s lean into to an ex-con, with our criminal buddy Cameron Reddican.
Cameron is going to take Imposing d10 and Criminal Underworld d8. They grew up on the wrong side of the law, distrusting the system, and learned to use their attitude to keep trouble low. I think they mostly handled small-time crimes; fencing goods and running numbers for a local mob.
Criminals get an Expertise Principle, and Cameron is going to take the Principle of the Tactician. They’re cool-headed and have a plan for everything. But they may not have had a plan for…
Step 2: Power Source
Our class three d8s for Power Source nets Cameron 8, 8, and 2, which gives us Training, Powered Suit (nope), Tech Upgrades (nope), and Cosmos. So I’m going to have to go with Cosmos. Now, how does a low-level criminal get awesome cosmic powers, especially one known for… oh, of course.
Cameron got hired as the tactician and numbers folk for a mysterious heist. In truth, the heist was being run by Wager Master, the Cosmic Trickster! Wager Master just really wanted to watch a heist movie, and there wasn’t anything good on Netflix, so he went ahead and made his own, with a bunch of ways for the crooks to betray each other for profit. Right near the end, Cameron used the McGuffin they were stealing and put themselves at risk to save the life of a teammate who had previously betrayed them, which coincidentally was the win condition that Wager Master had secretly built into the scenario. It was all such good entertainment that Wager Master let them have the powers, congratulated them, and said that he’d be back to check in next time he wanted a good show.
Cameron does not know how to feel about this, but they always said that the thing keeping them from doing good was that the system was rigged against them, so they’ve decided to hold to that and become a superhero.
Cameron definitely has superhuman Intuition (d8) and can use their Suggestion (d8) to influence people to follow their desired plans. Finally, their Invisibility (d8) relies on fading into the background and becoming unimportant.
Since they didn’t take Cosmic, Cameron doesn’t actually get to choose Abilities. They just have to take Encourage (using their Suggestion to push people in the right direction) and Mass Effect (using their Intuition to set up coincidental actions that mess up or benefit everyone nearby.)
They then downgrade one power and upgrade another, turning their dice into d10, d8, d6. I’m going to upgrade Intuition, and downgrade Invisibility. Cosmos may not grant a Green Ability, but at least it is also bad about giving you something else in exchange.
Step 3: Archetype
Cosmos, at least, gives a d10, d8, d8 as its Archetype spread. Results of 7, 2, and 4 gives us access to Shadow, Marksman (no), Close Quarters Combatant (noo), Armored, Elemental Manipulator, or Sorcerer. Shadow fits the secretive mastermind that Cameron is turning into, so we’ll go with that.
We have to give Cameron Stealth d10. We’ll also give them Agility d8 and Ranged Combat d8 to round things out. For Abilities, Sabotage using Stealth is just too cool, and we can add a Green damage/redirect to keep that ‘control of the environment’ thing going on. Then, in Yellow, we can add Overcome From Darkness, which is also using Stealth (a rare time when that’s allowed!)
Finally, Shadow unlocks a second Expertise principle. Now that we’re subtle, I’m going to add the Principle of Stealth and really drive home how sneaky they can be.
Step 4: Personality
Cameron’s two d10s for Personality come out to 10 and 7, which unlocks Stalwart, Alluring, and Naïve. Alluring is taken and Naïve does not fit at all, so Cameron is a Stalwart sort.
Step 5: Red Abilities
When things get bad, Cameron gets tricky. Impossible Knowledge lets them turn penalties into bonuses, and Give Time lets them either Boost someone, or hand their turn to another hero and boost them – but at a cost.
Step 6: Retcon
Cameron is going to take a third Red power, one that’s pretty strong for them. Whenever they use an Ability, they also get to take a basic action. That’s going to be great in conjunction with giving people extra turns.
Step 7: Health
Cameron has 28 Health (8 + Red 8 + Agility 8 + 4) . So far, everyone has come into the 28-32 range. I wonder if that’s standard, or if it’s because I’m leaning towards making sure that people have at least something Mental or Athletic. Would a lot of people not do that, or do it less?
Step 8: Alias
Cameron is going to be calling themselves the Synergist. They use their newfound cosmic awareness to push everything into the correct path, uniting a lot of disparate actions into a single flowing whole.
Character Sheet
Synergist
Alias: Cameron Reddican
Background: Criminal, Power Source: Cosmos, Archetype: Shadow, Personality: Stalwart
Principles: Tactician (Expertise), Stealth (Expertise)
- Minor Twists: What one variable did you not account for? What evidence of your presence did you leave behind?
- Major Twists: What major threat is revealed that invalidates all your plans? What just happened that identified you as an obvious threat?
Status Dice: Green d8, Yellow d8, Red d8
Health: 28 (Green 28-22, Yellow 21-11, Red 10-1)
Qualities:
- Imposing (Social) d10
- Stealth (Physical) d10
- Criminal Underworld (Info) d8
- Ranged Combat (Physical) d8
Powers:
- Intuition (Intellectual) d10
- Suggestion (Psychic) d8
- Agility (Athletic) d8
- Invisibility (Self-Control) d6
Green Abilities:
- Principle of the Tactician (A): Overcome when you can flash back to how you prepared for exactly this situation. You and your allies gain a Hero Point.
- Principle of Stealth (A): Overcome to infiltrate somewhere or avoid detection and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.
- Sabotage (A): Attack using Stealth. Remove one physical bonus or penalty, Hinder using your Min die, or move to a new location in the environment.
- Subtle Redirection ®: When you would be dealt damage, roll d4 in Green, d6 in Yellow, or d8 in red. Reduce the damage that you take by the result of the roll, then Attack another target with that roll.
Yellow Abilities:
- Coaching (A): Attack using Suggestion. Boost all nearby heroes taking Attack or Overcome actions with your Min die.
- Eye of Chaos (A): Boost or Hinder using Intuition, and apply that mod to multiple nearby targets.
- Control the Battlefield (A): Attack or Overcome using Stealth. Boost yourself using your Min die.
Red Abilities:
- The Hand-Off (A): Boost another hero using Intuition. If they have already acted this turn, use your Max die, and they lose Health equal to your Min die. They act next in the turn order.
- All According To Plan (I): At the start of your turn, you may turn any penalty into a bonus.
- The Dominoes Fall (I): When you use an Ability action, you may also perform a basic action with your Mid die on the same roll.
Out Ability: Defend an Ally by rolling your single Intuition die.
Aftermath
Boy, Cosmos is not a very good Power Source. It gives you some versatility at Yellow, but at a heck of an opportunity cost, and the boost one / reduce one is not that great most of the time.
Still, I think that Synergist turned into someone pretty neat, and that dangling Wager Master thread could lead to appropriately chaotic nonsense for the person who wants to control everything.